Hotel Room Fifteen
by smootherthanastorm
Summary: I'm telling you, that Merida and Macintosh love each other, they just don't know it yet. (yes, it's that same story from AO3-with the same author)
1. one(red)

She stood there with the air of a woman who would rather be set on fire than have to listen to another person complain. She hated the town meetings. It wasn't her town-just one that she had been forced to stay would listen to the problems on DunBroch, they were her people. These people were not her people. They were just people. Without her heart, she couldn't even begin to care about them. With it, she might have found some sympathy. Yet living with without a heart or memories has made her harder, stronger even. Yet she didn't have anything to fight for right now,except for getting back to her brothers.

But they were probably dead, because she had not made the deadline.

She had gotten used to avoiding them. The Charmings, she might have been free from the dark one, but her heart was still in her hands. She blamed the Charmings for it, as it was their daughter, and they would do nothing to take the darkness from her. She refused to wear the clothes of the world here, she wore the blue dress given to her by her mother. She wore the bow given to her by her father on her back at all times. A sword was always at her side. She still didn't have her heart, but she was ready to fight for it. Always.

She was aware that some memories were taken from her by the dark one, but she had no idea what they could be. She had hopes they would be about her saving her brothers, but she had little faith in it. She knew that she probably had failed, and had known that, and had allowed the dark one to take her. She just wished she had not done that. Maybe she was supposed to have fought more, there must have been something that she could have done. There always was something that she could have done. That she knew.

She had taken to living in room fifteen, in a place called Granny's. Surrounding her, was the clothes of the place she was now living in. The place, that she had been forced to live in. Still, she only wore her blue dress, but she at least kept the clothing around her. Wearing it would be admitting defeat, but sometimes you have to admit defeat. Her father taught her that, it was part of being a good queen, accepting defeat. You can't win every battle, but you can fight like hell in each one. She missed her father, for he would have been able to help her then. He would know what to do. But she failed, and he was dead. Probably like her brothers. And soon, so would her mother. All because she had failed countless times.

What a poor, poor girl to have sentenced her family to a fate like this.

There were few things that she had come to enjoy about Storybrooke. She enjoyed a few of the people, the evil queen was pleasant, and the dark one she had heard was nice behind all of this. She found the pirate tolerable, but he was busy right now freeing the dark one from her darkness. She assumes she might like her then, but she might now, because she had ripped her heart out of her chest. She liked the routes she had found to run. Her favorite would go around the entire town, and took her a few hours at the most. She never wore clothing of the place here, but she had to admit she liked it. She had learned to straighten her hair, which took hours, but the results were nice. She enjoyed it a little, but she would always love her curly hair. She enjoyed the new makeup here, as she had liked the few items in her home, but these were better.

She could have had a life here, if she wasn't so unhappy.

She had taken to running nearly every day, purely to fill the time. The dark one hadn't called upon her heart in a while now, so she had lots of free time. She had been told that the first thing they would do was get her heart back, but she still was yet to have a heart. It had been two wanted it back, but nobody was showing a sense of urgency. So she bided her time, hoping that one day she would get a heart back. She would soon, she was sure. As she was giving them two more days before she took matters into her own hands. She had practiced shooting for this.

Practiced fighting for this, gotten into better shape, hoping she would get a heart. She was ready to live without one though, to adapt to this world without holding an ounce of control of humanity. She didn't need to remember what had happened in her home, she could figure it out herself and live here. She had a plan, which was more than the Charmings had. She was ready and they were not. That was the only difference between them. Besides that, she knew she liked them. The prince David was funny enough, although the princess Mary Margaret could be a bit of a bore. She had heard that she was stronger once, and hoped to see her that way again.

It had been a week, and Merida was beginning to give up. She had worn jeans for the first time. She liked them, easy to move in. Then, she straightened her hair three days in a row. She looked different. She started wearing more of the makeup. Took to assisting the mayor. She built herself what could have been a life her if it needed to be. It wasn't giving up, it was adapting. Or at least what she told herself.

She had begun to realize she didn't need a didn't need to love anymore. But that was when the Prince Charming knocked on her door and held hers in his hand.


	2. two(blue)

Her heart was a brilliant red, but she had wanted it to be blue. Blue reminded her of home. It reminded her of the sky, and of people around there. She would have even been reminded of the Lord Macintosh, with his blue stripes painted across his chest. She would have liked blue. But instead, it was red. Of course, that made sense, as blood was red. But she was disappointed.

It was easier than she had expected to shove it back into her chest. She just breathed, and she pushed it in between two breaths. Something was different when she did so, she felt different, but she didn't know how. It was nice to know that she was in control again, but she had nothing to do with it. So she decided to walk down the stairs into the diner below.

It ended up being Snow who found had went for a little walk, just to decompress, and found them in the middle of the hadn't seen two of them for too long. Once she had never seen. Ruby was a blur of red and white, something she had missed, so she was attacked with a hug when she saw her. She had liked Mulan, truly, but had never really gotten to know her, so she shook her hand and said hello and made good conversation with her. She had never seen the third person, a man with curly black hair and god-awful blue stripes on his chest and right arm.

After a few minutes of little conversation, learning the name of the man was Cothric Macintosh, but he prefers Macintosh. She walked them back into the center of town, telling Ruby that her grandmother would love seeing her again. She told Mulan that Aurora and Philip would also love to see her. Snow didn't know who would want to see Macintosh, so she told him that her husband would probably love to meet assumed they would get along fairly well besides they seemed fairly similar. She barely knew the man though, so she felt she couldn't make good judgements. So, she decided to lead them into granny's in an attempt to make a plan.

Merida had walked right up the stairs as they walked in.

She had been down there for an hour and decided to sit next to Belle, where they talked as usual. She had decided that she liked working in the library sometimes, because Belle had become a good friend of hers since she got to the strange land. Belle had given her a book to read, something she might enjoy. Belle had gotten good at guessing what books she might like reading. This one was called _Outlander_ , and Merida had been told she should like she took the book when Belle left to sit with Rumple and walked back up to room fifteen. She read the first chapter, decided the book was alright, and decided to simply sit for a while.

It was nice to relax every once in awhile. Sometimes she would work out a bit, do pushups and situps, maybe stretch. She had taken to working out with Charming a lot, because he really wasn't horrible and reminded her of people back home. He had taught her a lot of strange little things, and had bought her something called a cellphone with only his number programmed in it, so whenever she pressed the one it would connect to him. She pushed the green button when he was calling her, and the red button if she didn't want to talk to him or to end a conversation. It was useful, she realized, but that didn't mean she liked it. It was strange, something she wasn't used to and something she didn't plan on getting used to.

She then slept for an hour, because she needed to find a way to pass the time. Sleep had been something useful lately.

She walked right back down those stairs two hours later, but Macintosh had already left with Mulan and Mary Margaret.

It had been two days and that had happened was Macintosh meeting Charming and refusing to wear clothes of this world. Merida had straightened her hair again, it had become a daily thing. She ran twice a day. She had finished _Outlander_. Belle had given her the next one in the series. Ruby had moved back in with granny. Mulan started staying in room three at Granny's.

Then, on a Tuesday, Charming called Merida on that strange cellphone thing with news.

"So we may have found a way to get the memories back."Charming began the conversation with.

"Well then how do you get them back in my head?"Merida asked after a moment's silence.

"I'll explain it when you get here."Charming said.

"And where is here, exactly?"She asked him.

"The mayor's office."He said before hanging up the phone.

"Charming, Charming."Merida said into the dead line.

She put the device in her back pocket(she was wearing jeans today because that was what 'normal' people wear) and left the hotel room abruptly, she put the key in her other pocket and bolted down the stairs.

Her hair was straight that day, and tied up behind her. No one would have been able to notice her if they tried. She ran out of Granny's and towards the office of the mayor. She even forgets to breathe.

Macintosh walks in looking for a girl with wildly curly red hair wearing a blue dress as soon as she's out of sight. Granny can't think about who he might be talking about, because the only girl with red hair she knew wore it straight and always wore jeans. He was three weeks too late, because that was the last time anyone saw the girl he had been thinking about.

Storybrooke has a way of changing people.

Charming(or David, as she should probably be calling him) is holding a dreamcatcher in his hands. When she approaches him, he hands it to her and she doesn't know what to do with it. It is nothing more than a toy to her. He explains to her, that she simply needs to stare into it and she should be getting her memories back. So she does.

" _If you're not fit to rule the clans, no one is"Macintosh said at her with a smirk._

 _She saw a purple cloud coming for her as she verged on Arthur's land to kill the man who killed her father._

 _Her and her mother making a plan to get back their father's helm._

 _Her confrontation with Arthur and the witch._

 _Saving her brothers._

 _Macintosh being the last one to yield to her._

 _And then the first._

 _Beginning to trust him._

 _Seeing her father again_

 _Seeing Mulan again._

 _Meeting Ruby._

 _Arthur being so casual about having killed her father._

And that was when she took off running. She didn't even notice that Charming was running after her. She ran until she got to the campsite, knowing that Arthur knew what she was talking about. Charming had caught up to her as she paused to try and find which tent he was staying in. she was about to run at the largest one when he wrapped his arms around her waist and stopped her from moving. She fought him.

"Let me go! He killed my father! He did that!"Merida yelled at him as she fought.

"I can't let you go Merida"Charming said.

"He killed a king!"Merida screamed as she fought him more.

"And then you will."He said firmly. She stopped fighting him.

"You can't kill him yet. You can't start that war."He said.

"His back was facing him."Merida said simply as her hand moved to take his arms from around her.

"What?"he asked her.

"My father's back was facing Arthur when he killed him. Only a coward kills a man without facing him."she said as she finally got his arms away from her. She stalked off towards Granny's.

Charming stood there for a moment and stared at the big tent. He hated to admit that Merida was right. He walked away with near the same expression as she had.

She finally saw him when she walked back into Granny's so she could get to her hotel room. She was pulling the key out of her back pocket and looking anywhere but up. With one hand, she pulled her hair out of it's knot, still looking at the floor. It was still straight, it was still was only when she looked up when she saw him. He looked the same. The god-awful blue paint was still on his chest and right arm. He still wore a kilt, his hair looked the same. A sword was slung at his side, like always.

It was her that looked different. She wore some form of trousers that looked painted on and a green shirt that only covered a small portion of her arms. Her hair was the most different. It was straightened to perfection and looked easily combed. She was everything that she wasn't over there. He didn't even see a bow and arrow on her back or a sword at her side. Her face even looked different, but he couldn't figure out how.

"Macintosh."Merida said, attempting to hide emotion.

"Queen Merida."He said in a voice that Merida didn't even realized she had missed. He stood up from his place at the bar to address her properly. He would never wear a shirt, would he? Merida walked past him only to tell Granny that she would pay whatever he owed tomorrow. Then she continued walking past him towards the stairs to the room.

"You're supposed to come with me, you used to always follow your queen."Merida said before continuing to walk. He quickly turned to follow her and they walked silently up the stairs. They rounded the hall and stood outside room fifteen. She looked at him for a moment before opening the door.

She had wanted her heart to be the same colour of his stripes, she had realized.


	3. three(in the woods somewhere)

He was placed in room thirteen, right next to hers. She hadn't gotten him in there for a while though, because they sat on her bed and talked for at least an hour. They talked about everything, about what DunBroch had been like while she was gone, about what it was like here. They talked about her strange new life here and the one she missed. They talked about the chances of getting home. They knew that they were slim, but at least they had each other. They just didn't know that was so important to them.

He couldn't decide if he liked her hair like this or not. Sure, she looked beautiful, but that wasn't exactly hard for her to do. He knew she looked nice, but she didn't look like her. He felt that about everything she did. She was nice, she looked nice, but she wasn't her. Nothing about this was her, but still it seemed right. Like this was a parallel universe, and in this universe this was her. It wasn't wrong, but it wasn't right. Nothing was about this. Yes it all seemed familiar and real and somehow correct.

In the middle of his musings, he realized that she had stopped talking. It was then that he stared at her for real. Her eyes were the same color, a green he hadn't realized he had missed. But god had he missed now, that he'd seen them again. That was the same. That was always right. Some things were always right. Her smile was always right and always the same. So that should have been enough. And so many things were always right and always the same. Enough was always right and always the same that he could stand being there for a little while he thought. She had stopped talking because tonight was the night for yet another town meeting, one that she could not stand to go to. At least he was now here with her, so she might be able to stand it.

"I have to attend the town meeting tonight. "She said to him through their comfortable science.

"If you must."He said.

"I want you to come with me."She said to him.

"Then I will."He said. She choose to ignore how he seemed like he was holding back.

Charming knew better than to stick her next to Arthur again, so he put her on one end of the table and Arthur on the other. She had hoped for Macintosh to be able to sit with her, but there were not enough seats. So she sat next to Charming, and Arthur was far away from her with the dark one(she wasn't dark anymore so her name must have been Emma), the evil queen, the queen Mary Margaret, and Belle.

She could barely contain herself, being so close to that man. Macintosh watched her attentively, knowing why she couldn't contain herself. He kept eyes on her, as she listened to the issues(they were quite stupid) and gave her opinion every once in awhile. The only real issues were that nobody could find Zelena, and she was a flight all knew she was a flight risk, but of course, they would make no efforts to stop whatever she was doing. And so, Merida could not care less. She was to preoccupied stopping herself from attacking. She was shaking,instead. Her fingers were tapping against the table. Sharming was always keeping her in his eyesight to know when she did something, because he didn't want her to start the war yet.

But of course, when Arthur spoke, all hell broke loose.

"Why must we be concerned about Zelena, she is a good witch?"Arthur asked the council. She hated being on the council. She hated it being a council. She shook more and spoke slowly.

"She can't be that good if she choose to work with you."She said.

Arthur glared at her, and said, "And why is she even here, she's not a proper ruler" So,

Merida jumped up from her chair and stared at him. She stared holes into him. He looked uncomfortable purely from the stare. The Prince Charming, and Macintosh, both stood with her.

"Make that crazy witch sit down!"Arthur yelled. Merida said nothing. Charming said nothing. Macintosh looked murderous.

"I would watch your words."He said. Then Merida spoke.

"I know the truth about you, Arthur. I would watch the words you point at me."She said to him slowly and lowly. Arthur turned away from her and stared straight entire night, he said nothing. But Merida left long before the meeting was over, with Macintosh right behind her.

"Mac!Mac, wake up!"Merida said the next morning, as she knocked on his door. He opened it and glared at her. She was always the morning person, he was not.

"Is there a reason, that you choose to wake me up that way?"He looked down at her to ask. She had almost forgotten how tall he was, so she was at eye level with his chest.

"Breakfast."Was all she said before she bounded down the stairs. He rolled his eyes before he followed the spitfire.

She had gotten a little table for the two of them, and was sitting on one end of it. Macintosh came up to it and took the seat across from her.

"You never eat breakfast."Was all he said to her.

"I thought it might be good to start."She said as an excuse.

"That's not like you."He said.

"Someone said it's very healthy to eat three meals a day."She said.

"That was me."He told her.

"I'm surprised you listened."He said when she didn't respond.

"You don't always have the worst advice."She said simply as Ruby came over.

"Do you drink coffee?"She asked them.  
"Yes"Merida said. "Black for the two of us."She added. She left without asking a food order and came back a moment later with coffee.

"Two specials?"Ruby asked Merida. She nodded and Ruby walked away again.

"Do you come here often?"he asked her.

"It is right downstairs. And Ruby is good friends with Mulan so we talk sometimes."Merida said as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I remember them. They helped you find the helm, didn't they."Macintosh asked her.

"They did. Didn't you travel here with them?"Merida asked.

"The witch sent us all together."Macintosh said.

"You went to the witch?"she asked him.

"I needed to find you, and she told me that i would be sent to where you were."He said.

"How long was I gone?"She asked.

"The council had your mother as reagent."He didn't say anything for a moment.

"Nearly two months, then."She said. He nodded instead of saying anything.

"Well, I'm sure my mother has been just amazing at it."Merida said.

"She's always been a good queen, but not our queen."He said.

Before she could respond, Ruby came to their table with two plates. She set one down in front of each of them and then went to grab a pot to refill their coffee. After she did so, they started moving. Merida put one piece of her bacon on his plate, and he moved one sausage to her plate. Then they started eating. It was like when she did one thing, he did it the moment after .They fit together. They didn't speak for a while, just ate, but the silence was enough. They were good together, they were like magnets. They moved at the same moments, and when they didn't, they still moved lower ke they fit together.

They didn't need to speak, because the silence was so comfortable.

She would take a sip of coffee and he would eat some eggs. Then vice versa. They stayed like this until they both were finished with their food. They, they sat for about ten more minutes, drinking coffee and talking a little bit. He briefly filled her in on what had happened back home, and she briefly told him of her favorite things in town. She told him about the stable, and while there weren't any horses comparable to Angus, there were some fine ones.

Then, they set off. Merida decided that they should walk through town, because in Mac's few days there, he had not actually seen much except for the hospital he had stayed at. Merida showed him the way to the stable first, because she thought he would like it there, and they stayed there for a while. Her favourite horse there was named Scarlett, so she showed her to Mac, who took a liking to her as well. They had always had the same taste in horses, even when they were young. The, she choose to take him on a small walk through walked past the flower shop and he saw a few things he recognized, and remembered to file away how to get there. He was sure he would need it at some point. That was the only place that stuck, as they passed many basic places. And took note of the clothing store she would have to take him in at some point soon. He couldn't wear nothing but a kilt and a fur coat forever, especially in a world where that wasn't normal at all.

They spoke rarely, but when they did it was normal and easy and she liked it. They were never awkward with each other, and she loved that. But she couldn't focus on anything because he was staring at her so intently and she was focused on pretending she didn't notice. He had been staring at her the whole time, but never as intently as he was right now/ He just stared at her, different parts of her. He noticed that her legs were clothed in some thick blue material that held tight to her, and her shoes were only a little tall, but he was still so much taller than her that she still wasn't at his eye level. She wore a loose and sleeveless black shirt, but her arms were covered by some black jacket of a shiny material. Her hair was straight again, which he really hated even though she looked pretty in it, and it was pulled to the side of her head in a plait. She

looked beautiful, of course, but she always did.

And he didn't even notice that his hand had moved to be clutching hers. She hadn't stopped him, either.

They never spoke about it.

They spent the entire day out in town, only returning at the very end. They walked right up to there rooms, instead of stopping for food or anything like that. They just stayed together for hours, walking, and talking a little, and building a life that they could live here. Of course, they didn't realize that, they were too busy being together.

She didn't go to her room first though, she went to his. They talked for a while up the stairs, and then in his room. But before she knew what she was doing, she hugged, him, held him tight and didn't want to let do. Again. But only for a moment, as they got comfortable with him.

"You're going to have to wear clothes like the people here."She said as she pulled away.

"No I won't"He said as she started walking towards the door.

"Yes you do."She said to him before closing the door behind her and walking to her room.

He already missed her and she had only been gone a moment.

And hotel room fifteen didn't feel lonely for the first time in a long time.

And the entire time, Zelena had been camped out in the woods collecting supplies. Of course, nobody knew that, because no one found her a pressing matter anymore.

How stupid could they be.


	4. four(lilac)

Merida wants to scream every time that she sees him, walking around like he hadn't murdered her father. Macintosh knows, and so does Charming, and somehow Charming was able to convince her to wait, and bide her time, or put him to trial. Merida understands why she can't just kill him, but oh does she want to.

Arthur knows that Merida knows. He truly felt no remorse or what he did, but he understands the anger that the girl feels for him. It worries him, for she could kill him easily if she wanted to, and so could that man that always walks with her, that always clings to her when he is near. He doesn't know why Merida hasn't killed him yet, but he knows it is coming, and he has to do something.

Something drastic.

The next part of our story starts on a normal day, but nothing was normal, not really. Everything had happened like usual, Merida and Macintosh had gone about their days as usual. At night, they got dinner at Granny's like usual. But it was just a little bit different. Macintosh stared at her just a little longer than usual. And when he grabbed her hand, he held on just a little longer than usual. She noticed of course, and when she laughed, she laughed a little longer than usual. And she looked at him just a little bit longer than usual. He said her name differently, like he revered it more. She said his in a way that was familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

It was easy to notice how everything had changed in the short time. Of course, they didn't notice until they were near Merida's room. As Macintosh walked Merida to her room their hands hung near each other, and he clutched her left hand with his right without thinking about it. She noticed of course, and walked just a hair closer to him. As they reached the room, they paused, and she let go of his hand, but before she could enter the room, he grabbed her wrist.

Arthur said he would do something drastic, and Zelena was something drastic. Drastic was a fire, that turned a deep purple, before dissipating into the sky, creating the most beautiful shade of lilac.

Right outside Hotel Room 15, Macintosh was pulling Merida closer to him. He whispered her name, like a prayer. She leaned into him, and him into her.

Just as their lips met, the lilac sky consumed them.


	5. five(someone new)

It was a routine. Every morning, at 6:45 am, the alarm clock goes off on her phone. She turns it off, sleeps for another five minutes, and then finally wakes always changes into workout clothes, ties her hair up, and then goes for a run. When she comes back, she showers, straightens her hair, and goes down to get breakfast. She always sits at the bar, and talks to Ruby, maybe Granny. Sometimes, somebody would sit next to her at the bar, and they would talk just a little bit before she left. She worked at the stables, sometimes at the Mayor's office, and sometimes at the library if Belle needs something. Occasionally, she would run by the sheriff's office and talk to David and Emma for a little while.  
She did the same thing every day, but she liked it just a lot. Dinner and lunch plans were usually up for grabs, as she would go with whoever she felt like for the day. Sometimes she would go to David and Mary Margaret's, sometimes Emma's. Sometimes she and Belle would get food from Granny's and bring it back to her room, and they would chat and eat and Belle would usually gives Merida some books to read for a little while. They would sit there talking for hours before Belle would leave and Merida would read a little while before finally going to bed. And every morning, it started again.

But this morning was different. Not anything particular, she still woke up at the same time, she went on a run, did the same route, but it was different. The route felt different, it felt shorter, it felt stranger straightening her hair. Breakfast felt the same, work fell the same, at the stables today. But today, she decided to have lunch with David and Emma at the station. She called Emma on the way there, picked up a few sandwiches for them. Emma asked her to pick up an extra one because there was a new guy working there and he would be around for lunch. Merida did, and got two orders of fries before starting her walk to the station. When she got there, she left all the food on Emma's desk and sat herself down on David's desk. She pulled a bottle of water out of his top drawer and began drinking out of it.  
"Do you work here?"She heard a voice ask her. She turned her head only halfway to barely see him.

"Nope."She said.

"Who are you, by the way? I don't know you and I know everyone that works here."She added. She finally jumped down from the desk and turned to face him. She had to take a second and really look at him.

"Merida! I see you've met Macintosh."David said as he came in, Merida jumped a little bit and was stolen from her inspection of the newly met Macintosh.

"I guess I have."She said to him.

"You stole a water, didn't you."He said.

"I brought you food I can steal all of the water I'd like to steal."Merida said to her friend as she went to it in the holding cell.

"Why do you always go in there?"Emma asked Merida as she walked into the office and took a sandwich off the table.

"It's fun."Merida says as she takes a chug of the water.

"Did you meet Macintosh?"Emma asked her.

"Yes. I didn't know you guys were hiring?"Merida asked.

"Sort of last minute-we realized we really hate being here and if we get a third person we can do that less."Emma said.

"You could have asked me."Merida said.

"You hate being here too."David said.

"Well that's true."Merida said  
"Are you supposed to be working right now?"Emma asked Merida.

"Only working at the bar tonight."She said.

"Want me to visit?"David asked her.

"Have dinner with your wife, David. Emma never works on a Friday night and you have to enjoy it while you can."Merida said as she took another sip off her water.

"Are you working both tomorrow?"Emma asked her.

"No. I don't actually work at the library I sort of just help Belle sometimes, you know that right."Merida asked the blonde.

"Of course I know that, but you usually help Belle on the weekends."Emma said.

"Do I?"Merida asked.

"Yeah you do."David said.

"I never really noticed that."Merida said.

"And you only work at the stables once a month. The mayor's office once every other month."David said.

"Dear god I work in the bar every night, don't I?"Merida asked.

"Every night."David said.

"What bar is this?"Macintosh asked.

"The Rabbit Hole."Merida said offhandedly.

"Do they have scotch?"Macintosh asked Merida.

"Obviously."Merida said.

"Might have to stop by."He said. Merida took another look at him.

"Okay."She said.

She swore she had seen him somewhere before.


	6. six(i lie and i'm easy)

She barely looks at her reflection in the window before she walks into work that night. Her straightened hair has been tied up at the back of her head, the fiery tail of it falling at the center of her back. She had changed into a pair of tight jeans, and a black cropped tank top, with a red flannel being tied around her waist. She only wore sneakers, because it was easier to move around when she was working. She walked in and shoved her cell phone in her back pocket, before going to clock into work. She clocked in, and placed her phone in the designated phone area of the bar before making the rounds. The usuals were here, as it was only five and the night really hadn't sunk in yet.

But when it finally had, she was truly in her element. It was loud and noisy and difficult to navigate, it was a true warzone. Fists would fly, and she seemed to be the only one who could ever break fights up when that happened. She liked working here, sometimes. In all honesty, she hated it, but the pay was good and she didn't have much else to do. Sometimes, she would be visited, Killian was practically a fixture here at this point. David would come by every once in awhile, but he tended to spend time with his wife and child. Emma would often stop in with Killian, or to drag him away at the end of the night. It was truly hard to be bored when it got like that.

"Deep in thought there, Scot?"A voice asked her from down the bar. She turned to see him sitting there.

"English, you can't just go trying to scare girls like that."She said to him as she poured him his normal choice of beer and bringing it to him.

"Oh like I could ever scare you, Merida."He said to her with a smile as he took the beer.

"You're quite the terrifying man, Arthur, with that big house of yours."She said to him as she leaned on the bar, placing her face closer to his.

"Do I scare you, Merida?"He asked as he leaned closer to her.

"Oh not at all, your wife should be scared."She said to him as she leaned back and away from him.

"Why do you always bring up my wife, Merida?"He asked her.

"Because she exists. And marriage vows are sacred."She says to him as she walks away from him.

"Not that sacred to you, Merida, are they."He says. She stays away from him the rest of the night, seeing him leave in an hour. He doesn't tip, he never tips.

The next few hours were a blur of shots and people, so she just does her work and deal with the people around her. She pours drinks and makes elaborate things and cleans up a mess(they're always seems to be a mess). She throws one guy out total in the six hours she had been there so far ,and she still has about three hours left of her shift. By now, she has taken her break, and talked to all the people she could usually talk to. She was bored, by this point. Simply waiting for something to happen.

He sees her before she sees him. Her back is turned to him, and her red hair falls down her back and he just wants to run his fingers through it but he shouldn't because he barely knows her. He sits down at the bar and waits for her to turn around and just watches her for a moment, because he finds it rude to try and get her attention. He sits there and waits for her to turn around.

"What can I get you?"she asks him as she turns around. She stares at him for a second, earlier she hadn't really looked at him, but now, she saw the way the muscles of his arm fought against the fabric of his t-shirt, and she saw the way his veins ran up the surface of them. She stopped staring at them only for a second, to look in his eyes, and found herself just as screwed.

"Got any Scotch in a joint like this?"He asked.

"You think I'd be working here if it didn't?"She asked back.

"You all specific about it, or ya think you can let me pick it for ya."She asked him with a smirk. Purposely, she let the her accent go a little bit.

"I have to say that accent makes me wanna trust ya."He said, seemingly letting his go as well.

"You know, I haven't heard anyone with an accent like that for a good few years now."She said as she turned away from him to pick up a bottle.

"Really, what made you leave Scotland."He asked her.

"Rocks or neat?"she said over her shoulder.

"Rocks."He said.

"A man after my own heart."She said as she poured it.

"Someone died. All the green started to bother me."she added as she placed the drink down with a napkin.

"Slainte."He said to her as he took a sip of it.

"Slainte."she said back to him as she leaned back against the wall behind her.

"How about you, why'd you leave the green?"She asked her.

"It got gray."He said to her. Somehow, that three word phrase meant far too much to her.

"It just seems to keep doing that, doesn't it."She said to him. He said nothing, only nodding in agreement.

He doesn't leave for a while, she doesn't have to kick him out with the local drunks, but he stays there a while. They talk, but only a little bit. He gets one more drink and he nurses it for hours upon hours and she doesn't get it. She downs drinks like that. They don't stay there too long, either. But he does, and he almost seems to be watching her, like he's trying to place her somewhere else. Somewhere green, she assumes. He seems like he wants her somewhere green, somewhere he probably used to know, somewhere that she almost remembers.

She puts the thoughts aside, and she just kicks out the drunks at last call, something she had done a million times before that. She walks herself back to where she stays, but she only stays there a few minutes, because she has somewhere to be. She changes her clothes, and brushes her hair once before tying it back up. She leaves again, and she walks herself back to the bar,looking at the man leaning against the wall in the alley behind it. She walks back into the bar, just as he follows her, and they don't stop until he grabs her hand and pulls her into him, kissing her hungrily. She moves with him, until she ends up against the wall and he's slamming the door to the alleyway.

Their lips stay together but their hands are moving far too quickly. Her hands are pulling at the buttons of her shirt, dropping the offending garment to the floor. He removes his lips from hers for just a hair of a second to pull his shirt off his head, before moving her towards the broom closet. She takes her right hand to twist the doorknob open and use her right foot to push the door open. They moved in one singular motion to the other end of room, as he pushes the door closed with his foot.

"Don't break the door, Arthur."Merida said with a smirk as she pulled away from him.

"Shut up Merida."He said before he started kissing a line down her neck.


	7. seven(grey)

She doesn't think about Macintosh for a while, she simply doesn't see him. She realizes, that he had asked her if the bar had Scotch, and then he proceeded to come to the bar and ask her again. That was odd, but he was probably just trying to flirt with her or something of the like, and she really didn't have time for that. Her strange pseudo-relationship with Arthur was enough for her to handle. She had other things to think about that a new deputy sheriff and his poor attempts at flirting. She had to worry about finding an apartment, instead of living in a hotel room for the rest of her days.

She had been in that hotel room since she had shown up in Storybrooke around a year ago. It had been the only one open when she had first shown up, and she never really got around to leaving it. As she jumped from job to job she stayed in the hotel room and it had started to feel like home but not really. This place wasn't home, it was temporary and not meant to be stayed in for an entire year. Not like an apartment would be more of a home than a hotel room, but it might be a little bit more permanent than a hotel room. This would be her version of putting down roots here, or possibly staying here longer.

Arthur had creeped into her life one day and now he wouldn't go anywhere and a big part of her wanted to make him go away but that part of her never did a damn thing. He was in her and never going anywhere and her father would be so disappointed in her for doing all of this. She thought about that a lot but she tended to just let that thought go after a little while and think about something else like the new apartment she was looking at.

Her life was coming together and dear god was that awful. This wasn't the place she was supposed to be in. This wasn't the life she was supposed to live. None of this was right and it all felt wrong and she didn't even know how she knew it felt wrong but it was all wrong. She just kept living this life that she wasn't supposed to be living and pretending that it was all right and none of it was and meeting Macintosh just reminder her of that and she hated him just a little for it but dear god he was so familiar and safe and comfortable.

She could live a life with this Macintosh, but it probably wouldn't be this one. They could live a life together in Scotland or somewhere green and be happy and her mother would love him and her brothers would love him and everything would be alright and they could be happy. That would never be her life again, she had realized, she couldn't stand to be anywhere green now because it was all grey and not green and they needed green to survive.

They would be together if there as green, but everything had been grey lately.


	8. eight(remain nameless)

"Who ordered food?"Merida yelled as she walked into the sheriff's office with two bags from Granny's in her hands.

"Leave it on the desk."Emma yelled to her before walking into the interrogation room.

"Merida."Macintosh said to her as she passed his desk, leaving a bag on it.

"How are you today, Mac."She said to him as she brought the other bag to Emma's desk and sat down in her chair.

"Can't complain, Merida. How have you been."He asked her.

"I got an apartment."She says to him excitedly.

"Really, where?"He asks her as he starts in on his food.

"Same building as Emma. Finally stopped living in a hotel room."She said to him before eating a fry.

"You lived in a hotel room?"He asked her.

"For almost a year."She said

"Why would you do that?"He asked her.

"I didn't plan on staying."She said before taking a bite of her sandwich. He doesn't respond.

She noticed that Mac talks to her too much and she only thinks that it's too much because he is starting to remind her of somebody that she swears she used to know. She just tends to push those thoughts out of her head because it is easier to do that then dwell on the it and try to place him somewhere in her past and that just isn't a nice place to dwell. You get stuck there and it isn't real anymore and Merida just wanted to be in a place that was real now and will be real tomorrow and the day after-not a place that hasn't been real since she was nineteen.

She mostly thinks about this when she sits at the bar and there isn't really anything happening. When people aren't fighting or it isn't a weekend of it's just a slow hour the only thing to do is clean and think, really. She can think about everything, when she'll finally get around to moving into her apartment or buying a mattress. She can think about how she'll tell Arthur that they need to stop, or she can think about telling his wife. She can think about things that she knows she will do, like buying an apartment, and things that she probably won't do, like telling Arthur that they need to stop. She can think so much when the bar is slow that she make all of the conclusions she needs to even if she doesn't really want to make them.

"You just keep sitting here, looking deep in thought." a voice she's only just come to recognize asks her, almost demanding that she turns to look at it.

"It's a Tuesday."She says to him.

"And that means?"he prods.

"Nobody goes to a bar on a Tuesday."She says to him.

"And what exactly do they do on a Tuesday?"He asks.

"They get drunk at home."Merida smirks. He nods to her, almost knowing what her plans would have been if she was at home instead of here.

Why had Merida agreed to close tonight? She had no reason to stay here any longer, but Maggie has asked to switch shifts with her because she couldn't afford to have a babysitter any later than 10:00 and she couldn't really find a way to say no to her. Maggie had thanked her, profusely of course, and Merida had found herself here a lot longer than she had meant to. She didn't mind, at least not really, as it wasn't like there was anybody for her to go home to. And that was how Merida found herself here, much later than she would have wanted to be here.

Arthur didn't come in tonight, or at least he hadn't yet, for he must have finally noticed how little she wanted to be around had seemed utterly disgusted by him lately, if you were to ask him. She had simply been tired, tired of this thing she had become since being with him. It would have been different if she had been in love with him, or if she had felt some deep attraction to him. The attraction was nothing more than superficial, and she couldn't bring herself to continue justifying what she was doing. Adultery was a sin, she had remembered from the years of sunday school her father had sent her to. Adultery was a sin, and oh was she a sinner.

She was so far removed from the woman that she had known years ago, before her father died, and before she left Scotland: she was someone that she didn't recognize. It was down to the little things, lately, that threw her off so much. She didn't really remember when she had started with straightening her hair, but she did it daily, and she'd done treatments to keep it that way. Her hair had always been curly when she was in Scotland, and it was always down, or loosely plaited. Now, it was straight, and meticulously styled. She almost felt uncomfortable keeping her hair natural, now, and oh god did that scare her. She didn't recognize herself, and I almost think that it had been her hair that had started it all.

"You always work too late." She heard an all too familiar voice say from behind her. Oh god, she didn't need him today.

"What do you want Arthur?" She said in exasperation.

"I haven't seen you in awhile."He said to her. She turned away from him and started putting chairs on top of tables. She heard footsteps and waited to hear the sound of the door opening, but it never came. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him putting up a chair at a different table.

"You never answer my calls."He says to her. Of course she doesn't, she's quite clearly been trying to cut ties.

"My phone broke." She puts up another chair and slowly moves to a table farther away from him.

"I can have it fixed for you."He follows her. Of course he could, with that big house of his you'd think he'd have enough money to buy her another phone.  
"I don't need your charity."She puts up another chair.

"It's not charity, I just miss you."He puts one up himself and moves closer again. He shouldn't miss her, that's wrong. It's all wrong.

"Really, I think you have a lovely wife and should stop thinking about me."She stops trying to move, this conversation having tired her out.

"I don't want her."He says as he finally reaches her.

"Don't touch me."She says as his hand moves to pet her hair.

"Merida."He breathes. She closes her eyes.

"Don't touch me, Arthur."He moves her hair over her shoulder and leans down to kiss her neck.

"You don't mean that."He says, kissing his way up towards her face. She does, she really means that but right now she doesn't really know how to

"Don't touch me."She repeats, not even knowing that she is saying it. Arthur moves just enough to kiss her fully on the moth, despite her obvious protests. Merida moves on autopilot for a moment, kissing him back just enough to motivate him to keep going. The next thing she knows, even though it takes just a little bit, she is up against the wall, and Arthur's tongue is in her mouth, and her arms are wrapped around his neck. She wakes up, trying to naturally pull herself away.

"I have work to do, Arthur."She says coldly. His dazed look becomes as cold as her voice, and he slams the bar door shut behind him. She touches her lips, then, for they almost feel bruised from being kissed too much. Not in a good way, no, but in a way that she feels like she had been out of her body, and had been ravaged by a man she has come to feel nothing for.

But she got him to leave, and she was proud of herself for it. (As am I)

I don't know what it is that starts to come over Merida the next few days. It starts with her going for a run, something that she doesn't often, but instead of running the same route she always does, she lets herself wander. She stays in the woods for hours, being far too late to work with Regina at the mayor's office that day. She half-explains what it is that has caused her to be so late, but she really doesn't care to save this job. She works up to four jobs sometimes, and she knows why had she hates it. She needs time to breathe, and find something permanent in this town because she is here and that is real now. She spent too long pretending that it wasn't and something changed recently, and I think I know what it is but she doesn't, so I'm not going to tell you yet.

Merida leaves work with the mayor in a different mood than usual, but she can't put her finger on it. She goes to Granny's, only to get a coffee to go, and simply walks around town for a little bit, as she doesn't have to work at the bar tonight. She thanks god for that, because she thinks that it would have destroyed her to have to go to the bar tonight. She'd been there too much lately, and it was too easy for Arthur to show up there. There was something about that place that she thought was sucking the life out of her. She realizes, after she passes the flower shop, that she should maybe go home, and start to unpack, because now that apartment was real.

She passes Emma's apartment, that she shares with David and Mary Margaret,and almost knocks on the door but instead she just continues walking past that to the stairs. She'll see Emma tomorrow, or maybe she'll stop by later to say hello. Right now, though, she really needs to get to unpacking her apartment and if she doesn't start it now she probably won't ever get around to it.

"Merida?"A voice asks her as she reaches her floor.  
"Do I know you?"She asks before turning around. "Tuesday guy!"She exclaimed when she realized who it was.

"I have a name."He says to her.

"You haven't told it to me."She notes.

"Graham,"He says."My name is Graham Humbert."

* * *

I finally got myself to write an authors note! I had been meaning to do one for awhile, but I had wanted to get everything i had already written posted first so I wouldn't get distracted. Yes, this is the girl from AO3, I just sort of impulsively deleted that account once, but if you don't believe me I would understand. Note, this story will be both Gremma and Merintosh, but mostly Merintosh. Gremma may take more priority at one point, but above all it is a Merintosh story. Please review, I hope you enjoyed!


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